Sign our petition: Hillingdon Conservative Group should remove Cllr Richard Mills as Deputy Leader

We, the undersigned residents of the London Borough of Hillingdon, call on the Hillingdon Conservative Group to remove Cllr Richard Mills from the position of Deputy Leader.

For a period of at least six months, Cllr Mills used the Facebook pseudonym “DelightfulYuzu2877” (subsequently renamed “CherishedBlueberry4754”) to comment on Council business and local politics while concealing that he was a councillor – and, for part of that time, Chief Whip and then Deputy Leader.

Using that pseudonym, Cllr Mills has been shown to have:

• Called residents “keyboard warriors” and told them they lacked “the courage to put themselves forward and face the electorate,” while himself commenting anonymously on the very issues he accused them of merely “shouting online” about.
• Described the Hillingdon Alliance of Residents’ Associations – a voluntary body run by a committee of unpaid volunteers from across the borough, which had organised a non-partisan hustings weeks earlier that the Conservatives declined to attend – as “a front… taken over by an egomaniac with his own political agenda.”
• Told a West Drayton resident complaining about fly-tipping that she should “put [herself] forward for election,” to avoid “a reputation as one of those… who just complains continuously.”
• Dismissed campaigners for the Rural Activities Garden Centre as “the usual rent-a-crowd.”
• Commented anonymously, during the run-up to the May 2026 local elections, on candidates standing against his own party – while serving as Conservative Chief Whip, without disclosing his role or affiliation to the residents reading those comments.
• Suggested, on the closure of a West Drayton amenity site, that the outcome was “probably part of what happens when picking the losing side” – implying council services might depend on how a ward voted.
• Falsely claimed to have voted for Reform UK in wards where he does not live and could not have voted.
• Misrepresented the government’s Best Value notice concerning the Council’s governance as a funding dispute, while posing as an ordinary resident rather than disclosing that he was Deputy Leader of the very administration the notice was addressed to.
• When asked directly, by multiple residents, who he was – never answered.

Hillingdon Conservative Group should remove Councillor Richard Mills as Deputy Leader

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Cllr Mills has now confirmed the account was his. He has described this conduct as “a form of focus group.” We do not accept that explanation: the account did not solicit opinion, it attacked people who offered it; and since being identified, its post history has been renamed and then deleted entirely — steps inconsistent with a legitimate research exercise.

The Council’s Members’ Code of Conduct requires councillors to be “as open as possible” about their decisions and actions, and to “promote and support high standards of conduct… by leadership and example.” A separate formal complaint has been made regarding that breach.

Removing him as Deputy Leader is a decision for the Hillingdon Conservative Group alone, not the Council. This petition asks the Group to make that decision. We do not believe someone who has spent six months anonymously insulting the residents, campaigners, and voluntary associations of this borough should continue to hold one of the Council’s most senior political offices.

Cllr Tuckwell has said he will not ask Cllr Mills to stand down. We are asking the Hillingdon Conservative Group, and the public record, to show that residents disagree.

We call on the Hillingdon Conservative Group to remove Cllr Richard Mills as Deputy Leader with immediate effect.